It's Our Money

Earlier this month, we talked to Daily News Editorial Page editor Sandra Shea about the Educational Improvement Tax Credit. The program gives a tax break to corporations that provide funding for scholarships to private and parochial schools. She argued that there hasn't been enough oversight of the program.

Listen to this week's It's Our Money podcast, in which we chat with state Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams, a supporter of the tax credit.

State Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams

A few highlights from our interview with Williams are below.

On the origins of the EITC:

“When it first came on the scene, there was the argument between vouchers and EITC. And all the special interest groups, the legislature, the governor at the time agreed that they didn’t necessarily want to support a voucher but they were more comfortable using tax credits to support a program. So it has not been controversial because it’s been quite successful.”

On the lack of scrutiny of other state tax credits:

“The job creation tax credit, the movie tax credit, the Neighborhood Assistance Program tax credit — all these are tax credits that nobody says a word about them. But for the first time, amongst all these tax credits that we have in Pennsylvania that have existed for a long time, there’s one that actually affects a low-income population. And all a sudden it’s a problem.”

On oversight of tax credits in the state:

“Every year, people will walk out and make an argument either to remove it or to keep it based upon jobs and qualifications and a variety of other things. And so other than that, no, I don’t know of any specific measurement or study that occurs every year. But I’m quite clear that every year there’s a conversation about the economic consequence."